In Kerala, a fresh lease agreement was signed and registered on Wednesday between the state government and Tecom Investments for the Kochi Smartcity project. The new agreement was signed between the state IT Secretary Mr K Suresh Kumar and the Group CEO of the Dubai based Tecom Investments Mr Abdullatif Al Mulla, the developer of the Kochi Smartcity project. Speaking to media persons in Kochi, the Kochi Smartcity Chairman and the Minister of State for Fisheries Mr S Sharma said the project is expected to receive full Special Economic Zone status within the next few weeks after which work will begin. Although proposed seven years ago, the whole project ran into rough weather over differences with the state government on the issue of freehold land, which was amicably settled recently. The Kochi Smartcity project, to come up with an outlay of about 1700 crore rupees envisages the creation of a self-sustained business township to foster knowledge economy. It will have an employment potential of about 90,000 jobs.